St. Quentin with Forgons

Wednesday morning we went to Gare du Nord to catch a train to St. Quentin to see our friends the Forgons.  We bought a hydrangea (hortensia in French) to take to Forgons the day before in the Latin Quarter, which we carried home on the bus and then took with us the next morning on the métro to Gare du Nord.  It held up really well all the way to St. Quentin!

Jeanene waiting for the train at Gare du Nord with the Hortensia

10:37 to Compiegne and St. Quentin

Dominique, Marie-Jo and Marie-Do met us at the station in St. Quentin.  We were surprised Marie-Do did not have her toddler son, Timéo with her.  It turned out that her boyfriend, Teddy, was in a head-on car crash the day before on his way to work.  A delivery van was passing a truck and they collided going about 80 kilometers per hour.  Marie-Do left Timéo with a neighbor while she retrieved the papers out of his car.  He was in the hospital having his ankle operated on and his leg was broken and he hurt his chest and lungs, but they thought we was going to recover okay.  The doctors thought he wouldn't be able to return to work for six months.
Marie-Do left to pick up Timéo and we headed to the Crocodile Restaurant for lunch. 

What a fun place to eat--in a train car.  We remembered from Andrew and his love of trains that a Crocodile is a type of train locomotive.



Timeo, Marie-Do, Kelly, Jeanene, Marie-Jo and Christelle

Christelle was able to meet us on her lunch break and Marie-Do came with Timéo.  So our cozy table became too small and we moved to a bigger one. 
Timéo was a real charmer.  He  is 16 months old and not quite walking.  He gave us high fives and blew kisses.  He kept catching the eye of various women around the restaurant and blowing them kisses.  He was adorable with beautiful blue eyes.  He was "Charming like an Italian" as the French phrase goes.
 

Timeo the Charmer

Marie-Jo, Dominique, Timeo, Jeanene and Kelly

Christelle had to get back to work. Marie-Do took Timéo home for a nap and went to the hospital to check on Teddy.  She called and said his surgery had gone well.

Our first stop with Forgons was the LDS church building in St. Quentin.  My brother, Brad, had been a missionary in St. Quentin and met Marie-Jo's mother there.  She introduced him to her family and Brad spent a lot of time with Forgons at their home outside of St. Quentin.  I first met them 20 years ago.  They have been to the US to visit a couple of times and we see them every time we are in France--either in St. Quentin or Paris. 
When we arrived at the chapel it was locked, but there were missionaries inside who saw us looking in.  They said the building was five or six years old.  They have about 80-100 members attend each week.

St. Quentin Ward

The Elders kindly gave us a little tour.  The chairs in the chapel looked just like the ones in Paris so it felt very familiar.  It really was a nice building and the Elders were darling.  They were from Draper, Utah and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Next stop was the Champs Elysée in St. Quentin.  Yes, Paris is not the only city with a Champs Elysée.  St. Quentin's is a beautiful park.  We had visited the park in January 2012 on our last trip to France.  We were glad to see it in the summer.


Parc Champs Elysee

Kelly, Jeanene and Marie-Jo in July 2014

We posed in this same spot 2 1/2 years ago.  It is an old portal from a church that had been destroyed in nearby Douchy.  We enjoyed the weather much more this time!

Jeanene, Kelly and Kate in January 2012

Kelly watched kids playing soccer and basketball on the same court.  St. Quentin has a minor league basketball team, one level below the top level in France.  The Utah Jazz have a player from a town not far from St. Quentin named Rudy Gobert.

Soccer on the right and Basketball on the left

We walked from the park to the St. Quentin basilica.  They are doing a lot of restoration work on it.  Many of the pillars inside had iron braces. 

View of the Basilique de St. Quentin from the Train Station

Dominique and Kelly
at the labyrinth



Dominique and Kelly
Organ Loft

Kelly pointing to where a column
had been hollowed out for dynamite
and then later patched

The basilica sustained a lot of damage during WW II.  Most of the stained glass windows were new.  Dominique told us that the Germans were going to blow up the basilica.  They hollowed out areas in the columns and placed dynamite inside in preparation.  But in the end, they decided not to destroy it.


The huge hand of St. Quentin in
a reliquary

Stem of Jesse Sculpture

On our way out, we noticed a Stem of Jesse sculpture from the 16th Century.  Christ on the cross was at the top and just below him Mary.  Under Jesse were Adam and Eve and God holding the world.  It was interesting to compare this to the Stem of Jesse window at Chartres.



Adam and Eve Detail

From the basilica we walked over to the parvis in front of the St. Quentin Hôtel de Ville.  Forgons were proud of the mayor of St. Quentin, who was a minister for the former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.  Beginning five or six years ago she caused a beach to be built on the parvis in the summer with attractions for the children that was all free.  She was the one who started Paris Plage when she was a minister to Sarkozy.

Welcome to the Hotel de Ville Beach

Dominique and Kelly at the Beach



Strolling the Boardwalk

Hotel de Ville



Gardens on the Parvis

We noticed a fire engine for Andrew on the Merry-Go-Round.  We stopped at a café for a cool drink--Orangina for Kelly and me of course.

We still had a little time before our train to go to a park near the train station.  It was a nature preserve and wild bird hospital with many trails.  We walked through the swamp--Le Marais--on a boardwalk. 

And then we were back to the Gare de St. Quentin.  Everywhere there are commemorations for the centennial of the start of World War I.

We arrived at the apartment in Paris before 8:00.  We enjoyed our day with our French friends and hope all goes well with Teddy and his recovery.

Paris Pilgrimage

Kelly had seen posters in the métro for an exhibit at the Arab Institute on the pilgrimage to Mecca.  He had read a book about it several years ago and the subject intrigued him. 

Yesterday we took the métro to Gare d'Austerlitz and walked back along the quai by the Seine through the open air sculpture garden towards the Arab Institute.

Kelly at the Seine at the entrance to the
Canal St. Martin



When we arrived at the Arab Institute, we found they also had an Orient Express Exhibit on the plaza.  Andrew would have loved the trains!


Orient Express Engine

Orient Express Train Cars

The Hajj Exhibit

We enjoyed the exhibit and learned more about the journey to Mecca, the rituals and what the pilgrims did there.  We also learned that Muslims believe Ishmael and not Isaac was the child Abraham was told to sacrifice.  Abraham journeyed with Ishmael and Ishmael's mother, Hagar, to Mecca.

After the exhibit, we walked up the hill towards the Panthéon to the St. Etienne du Mont church.  We had tried to visit this church at the beginning of our trip but in the summer it is closed at lunch time and we did not have good timing.

Saint Etienne Du Mont Church
Commenced under Francois I
Finished under Louis XIII

Sande had told me it was one of her favorite churches and I could see why when we got inside.  It was beautiful--very light and airy.

Interior of St. Etienne du Mont



We walked back down the hill to a bus that would take us across town right to our apartment.  It is fun to see how the quartiers are connected.  Usually we are underground on the métro and pop up in a new area not really knowing what is in between. 
Later I went to the bakery to get Kelly a chocolate éclair but it was almost closing time and only coffee ones were left.  So I bought a Paris-Brest, which is shaped like an éclair but has choux cream in it with hazelnuts.  It is one of my new favorites!  We are always discovering something new in Paris.

LDS Temple in France

Kelly and I had just four days left in Paris after Kate and Carter left to tie up loose ends and do a few things remaining on our list.  Construction has begun on the Paris Temple in Le Chesnay, a village next to Versailles.  It is the first temple to be built in France.  We took the RER train out Monday afternoon to Versailles.  Although Versailles is closed on Mondays, the grounds and gardens are open.  We had a beautiful blue sky and temperatures in the 70s.

Kelly at the entrance to Versailles Palace

We walked around to the side of the palace overlooking a pretty fountain and gardens.

Kelly in the Gardens

We found the Allée de Mouton that we would follow to the Porte St. Antoine--St. Anthony's Gate--near Marie Antoinette's Hamlet.  It was a very long way to the other end.


Starting down the long path

We passed goats in a pasture along the path and there were places to picnic.  It was nice to be at Versailles without all the crowds.  We could see red cranes off in the distance and wondered if that was the temple construction sight.

Goats along the path

We finally made it to the end of the path to St. Anthony's Gate and walked out the other side.



Outside the gate

We walked about a half mile up the road past a Leader Price grocery store and apartment buildings and spotted the red cranes.

Approaching the temple construction site

It was a busy construction site.  I'm sure they were wondering why we were standing around taking pictures.  They were working on the underground parking.  It was exciting to see actual progress on the site.

 




We continued walking up through the town of Versailles to the train.  We walked a total of about two hours.  We definitely had tired feet when we arrived back at the empty, lonely apartment.  We can't wait until this temple is constructed and plan to return after it is finished in about two years.